Sex in Cinema: Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes

Sex in Cinema: In the following collection, excerpted from the Mini-History of Sex in the Cinema at this site, here are some of the most significant milestones, and most influential and memorable sexual/erotic scenes and films on the big screen through cinematic history. Most of these films, with portrayals of sex and/or nudity, were considered quite erotic, groundbreaking, unique and/or controversial at the time.

Sex in Cinema: In the following collection, excerpted from the Mini-History of Sex in the Cinema at this site, here are some of the most significant milestones, and most influential and memorable sexual/erotic scenes and films on the big screen through cinematic history. Most of these films, with portrayals of sex and/or nudity, were considered quite erotic, groundbreaking, unique and/or controversial at the time. HISTORY OF SEX IN CINEMA - INDEX (chronological by film title) Intro \| Part 1 \| Part 2 \| Part 3 \| Part 4 \| Part 5 \| Part 6 \| Part 7 \| Part 8 \| Part 9 \| Part 10 \| Part 11 \| Part 12 \| Part 13 \| Part 14 \| Part 15 \| Part 16 \| Part 17 \| Part 18 \| Part 19 \| Part 20 \| Part 21 \| Part 22 \| Part 23 \| Part 24 \| Part 25 \| Part 26 \| Part 27 \| Part 28 \| Part 29 \| Part 30 \| Part 31 \| Part 32 \| Part 33 \| Part 34 \| Part 35 \| Part 36 \| Part 37 \| Part 38 \| Part 39 \| Part 40 \| Part 41 \| Part 42 \| Part 43 \| Part 44 \| Part 45 \| Part 46 \| Part 47 \| Part 48 \| Part 49 \| Part 50 \|
Sex in Cinema: Part 21 Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes (chronological by film title) Milestone Films With Scenes That Were Especially Notorious, Infamous, Controversial, or Scandalous
Movie Title	Brief Scene Description	Example
Get Carter (1971, UK)	Mike Hodges' noirish and gritty crime drama-thriller about small-time, charming British gangster and hitman Jack Carter (Michael Caine) involved a tale of blackmail, death, and betrayal; it included a lengthy phone sex sequence with his Boss Gerald Fletcher's (Terency Rigby) London wife and his own mistress Anna Fletcher (Britt Ekland); wearing only lacy black leggings and a black bra, she stripped down and pleasured herself by touching her bare breasts while Carter talked to her on the phone from his boarding house parlor in Newcastle (while his landlady listened in); she was forced to pretend that she was doing 'exercises' and talking with a girlfriend when Gerald walked in; the film was originally rated "X" for violence and female nudity, then re-classified later as "R"
Harold and Maude (1971)	Hal Ashby's black comedy was an enormously popular cult movie about an eccentric, unconventional, inter-generational romance between death-obsessed 19 year-old Harold (Bud Cort) and life-affirming 79-year-old widow Maude (Ruth Gordon)
Klute (1971)	"Hanoi Jane" redeemed herself in this Alan J. Pakula film noir thriller and won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a troubled, self-destructive, and independent high class NYC call-girl named Bree Daniels, an emotionally-contradictory female whose life was threatened; the cold-hearted character described her empowerment as a call girl: "...and for an hour, for an hour I'm the best actress in the world, the best f--k in the world..."; she was one of many such actresses who were nominated for or won an award for playing a prostitute, including Elizabeth Taylor for Butterfield 8 (1960) and Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite (1995); this film realistically depicted the world of pimps, high-rollers, prostitutes, and drug-addicts, with a few semi-nude scenes; one indelible scene showed Bree with a paying client as she moaned authentically, took a quick peek at her watch, and then moaned some more
The Last Picture Show (1971)	Director Peter Bogdanovich's realistic, black-and-white drama told about the dreams and shattered loves of small-town Texans in the early 1950s; although the adult-themed film was nominated for eight Oscars (with two wins for supporting performers), some considered it obscene; one of the film's relationships was between high-schooler Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) and coach's wife Ruth Popper (Cloris Leachman), after he had broken up with his girlfriend Charlene (Sharon Taggart) following an awkward petting scene in a car; his loss of virginity was realistically portrayed as he awkwardly undressed and made unceremonious love to the older woman - under the sheets; the film's most controversial scene was at an indoor pool party in which the country-club-set teenagers enjoyed skinny-dipping (with full frontal nudity) - highlighted by rich, self-centered, town tease Jacy Farrow's (Cybill Shepherd) disrobing on a diving board; in another scene, Jacy experienced an aborted deflowering with football-playing boyfriend Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges) in the Cactus Motel in the dying Texas town, although she told her girlfriend-classmates: "I just can't describe it in words"; in another scene on a Saturday night inside a dark and closed-up pool-hall, the provocative, over-sexed Jacy also enticed her father's older business partner Abilene (Clu Gulager) to remove her shorts and underwear and have sex with her on a pool table - while her hands grasped the two corner pockets behind her
Lust for a Vampire (1971, UK)	After the success of The Vampire Lovers (1970), Hammer released this additional lesbian sexploitation sequel (the second film in the so-called Karnstein Trilogy) with much bare-breasted nudity; the publicity still for this masturbatory fantasy-horror film was an exaggerated, graphic image of voluptuous lesbian vampiress Carmilla 'Mircalla' Karnstein (Danish blonde model Yutte Stensgaard) after satisfying her bloodlust and exhibiting a blood-drenched chest in an elite girl's academy; this bloody and Sapphic-tinged gothic horror film included a topless massage (between Carmilla and Susan Pelley (Pippa Steel)) leading to a midnight skinny-dip and kiss, a toothsome bloody neck kiss and girl-on-girl action with Amanda (Judy Matheson), and other bloody neck-bitings of the nubile females at the exclusive European finishing school
Macbeth (1971) (aka The Tragedy 0f Macbeth)	The gratuitous nude (viewed from the back and side) sleepwalk by long-haired Lady Macbeth (Francesca Annis) was controversial for its time in Roman Polanski's R-rated (backed by Playboy Productions) dark, bleak, graphically violent, and pessimistic rendition of Shakespeare's play with lots of non-sexual nudity (most notably the scenes of a coven of dirty, aged, and often deformed witch hags) - it was made two years about the bloody and horrific slaughter of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate and others at his LA-area home by followers of Charles Manson; in another scene, a young male child was shown fully nude during a bath
Secrets (1971, UK)	This British melodrama (the first feature film shot in Super 16-mm) was released in the UK in late 1971, but didn't have its US opening until almost 7 years later; Jacqueline Bisset was little-known at the time of the film's making, in the role of ignored housewife Jenny who engaged in a steamy, brief and passionate affair with eccentric textile millionaire Raoul (Per Oscarsson); during the same afternoon, her daughter and husband also experienced similar encounters or sexual interludes, that brought them all back together; after Bisset appeared in an iconic wet T-shirt in the box-office smash hit The Deep (1977), this film was brought to life in 1978 after Bisset's renewed stardom and the producers re-released it to capitalize on her nude appearance
Shaft (1971)	Esteemed black director Gordon Parks' film was the first major, commercial crime film with a black hero (Richard Roundtree) - the colorful, action-packed, slightly tongue-in-cheek film portrayed the ultra-hip, handsome police detective John Shaft (the black version of Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" Callahan) who worked in Harlem against the Mafia, and was also a "sex machine" - in one inter-racial nude scene, he took a shower with a white woman, a bold scene for the early 70s
Straw Dogs (1971, UK)	This disturbing film from Sam Peckinpah further ignited controversy over screen violence and sexual abuse of women in the early 70s; the unflinching film starred Dustin Hoffman as David Sumner, a bookish, mild-mannered American mathematician on sabbatical living in a rural England town with his teasingly-seductive young bride Amy (Susan George); when local thugs (one of whom was an ex-boyfriend) assaulted the wife in a graphic double rape scene, it led to a cathartic eruption and escalation of violence
Summer of '42 (1971)	Director Robert Mulligan's nostalgic, war-time, New England (1940s Nantucket Island) beachside summer romance and coming-of-age tale told a flashbacked account about the sexual awakening into manhood of an awkward teenaged boy named Hermie (Gary Grimes); in an earlier scene in the town's drugstore, an embarrassed Hermie nervously attempted to order prophylactics from an unsympathetic storeowner; the film was initially the subject of great controversy due to its frank and sentimental portrayal of teen sex and love for an older woman - a beautiful 22 year-old war bride named Dorothy (supermodel Jennifer O'Neill), after she learned by telegram that her husband had been killed in action; with tears in her eyes and slightly drunk, she put her head on Hermie's shoulder, slowly danced (barefooted) with him to the tune (the film's theme song by Michel Legrand) playing on a phonograph record, and tenderly kissed him a few times; she clasped his hand in hers and led him to her bedroom, where she removed her outer slip (and her undergarments) and beckoned him to join her in bed; the next day, she only left him a note explaining that perhaps the meaning of the event would come in time to him; the film was originally rated R, but then re-evaluated and rated PG; however, objections by conservative groups caused the rating to be reverted back to R in the 1980s
Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971, UK)	This groundbreaking, acclaimed film by director John Schlesinger was notable for its tale of a romantic triangle; straight businesswoman Alex Greville (Glenda Jackson) and fiftyish gay Dr. Daniel Hirsch (Peter Finch) both loved the same young man - bisexual artist/sculptor Bob Elkin (Murray Head); it was the first major motion picture to feature a romantic kiss (on the lips) between two male characters
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)	Actor/director/writer Melvin Van Peebles' X-rated, confrontational cult film was the first true blaxploitation film - it was specifically designed to upset white audiences (advertised with "Rated X by an All-White Jury"), with Peebles himself playing the part of the sex-hungry, violent anti-hero; the successful independent film (budgeted at $150,000) was released by independent distributor Cinemation, and aimed at urban black audiences; it caused tremendous controversy for its militancy, under-age sex, anti-white sentiment, revenge-themes, and violence, although it was one of the most important black American films of the decade; it contained an explicit scene of well-endowed Sweetback having unsimulated sex on stage in a brothel, and an earlier scene in flashback - the most controversial of the entire film - in which Sweetback as a 13 year-old minor (played by Peebles' own son Mario) had sex with a black prostitute - explaining the derivation of his name when she said: "You've ... gotta ... sweet ... back!"
Twins of Evil (1971, UK) (aka Twins of Dracula, The Evil Twins)	The erotic Hammer Studio's Dracula film (with plentiful nudity and gore) was the final installment of the Karnstein trilogy, along with The Vampire Lovers (1970) and Lust for a Vampire (1971); it was set in 17th century Austria and starred Peter Cushing as puritanical, wench-burning witch-hunter Gustav Weil; it also featured October 1970's Playboy Playmate twins Mary and Madeleine Collinson as pretty blonde orphaned twins Maria and Frieda Gellhorn; in the film's plot, local nobleman/vampire and black magic practitioner Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas) seduced the amoral and lustful Frieda who was reborn as a vampire
Walkabout (1971, Aus)	Nicolas Roeg's tale was a coming of age saga about two stranded British schoolchildren, including a 14-year old Girl (17 year old Jenny Agutter), who must overcome the harsh climate of the Australian outback, aided by an Aboriginal boy (David Gumpilil); after overcoming self-consciousness and civilization's social conventions, the Girl engaged in a nude swim in a natural lagoon pond (with non-gratuitous full frontal nudity) - a symbol of her sexual awakening, although this would lead to tragic circumstances for the older aboriginal boy; about five minutes of the film were cut from the expurgated US version of the film
W.R.- Mysteries of the Organism (1971, Yugo.) (aka W.R. - Misterije organizma)	This controversial, X-rated, montage-filled, avante-garde, documentary-fiction film (dubbed a "sex film" in the countercultural era of the early 70s) from Yugoslavian director Dušan Makavejev explored the relationship between a beautiful, young Yugoslavian working class woman in Belgrade named Milena (Milena Dravić) - a Wilhelm Reichian (the W.R. in the film's title) feminist - who had a sexually-liberated roommate named Jagoda (Jagoda Kaloper) - and a visiting, repressed and prudish Bolshoi/Russian iceskater named Vladimir Illych (Ivica Vidović), Soviet leader Lenin's full name; it drew parallels between sexual liberation, political revolution and repressive Communist totalitarian politics; the unfortunate woman's seductive quest for sexual freedom and the ultimate orgasm ended when she was beheaded by the sharp blade of the skater's iceskate - and he couldn't control the liberating force of his own orgasm, although her decapitated head soon afterwards when placed on a platter began talking about the cosmic joy of orgasm; in 16 mm documentary scenes taking place in New York, Nancy Godfrey (as Herself) sculpted a plaster-cast replica of underground Screw Magazine editor Jim Buckley's (as Himself) erect penis, guerrilla-street theatre performer and The Fugs musician Tuli Kupferberg stroked his toy M-16 machine-gun to the tune of the song "Kill for Peace" while dressed as a US soldier, transvestite Warhol diva-drag queen Jackie Curtis (as Herself) who had a sex change suggestively licked a vanilla ice cream cone, and lesbian-feminist artist and sex educator Betty Dodson (as Herself) painted friends while they masturbated; it was reportedly the first film to depict full frontal nudity amidst its plentiful nude sex scenes and frank dialogue about free love, masturbation and orgasm; the film engendered intense criticism and censorship demands, and was banned in the director's own native Yugoslavia
Bluebeard (1972) (aka Barbe Bleue, Fr.)	In this very black comedy film from veteran director Edward Dmytryk, Joey Heatherton played the part of American vaudeville dancer Anne - the suspicious seventh wife of the evil and sadistic Count Bluebeard - Baron von Sepper (Richard Burton) - one of many wives who suffered horrible fates at the hands of the Austrian aristocrat in his castle and were stored frozen in his basement; other wives whose life/death stories were told in flashback included sexy stars Virna Lisi, Sybil Danning, Karin Schubert, Nathalie Delon, Raquel Welch, and Marilù Tolo
Cabaret (1972)	Bob Fosse's musical was the first one ever to be given an X rating (although later re-rated), with its numerous sexual flings (including bisexuality and abortions) in a decadent 1930s Berlin Kit-Kat Club (with perverse stage shows) between a threesome love triangle: seductive and wildly reckless American singer Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli), bi-sexual Brian Roberts (Michael York) and rich playboy Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem); in one scene, Sally asked a disinterested Brian as she placed his hand on her breast: "Doesn't my body drive you wild with desire? (pause) Well, doesn't it?...Maybe you just don't sleep with girls. Oh! You don't...so if you only like boys, I wouldn't dream of pestering you. Well, do you sleep with girls or don't you?"; one of their conversations also revealed Brian's bi-sexuality: (Brian (exasperated): "Oh, screw Maximilian!" Sally: "I do." Brian: (after a pause and smile) "So do I."); there was also their infamous threesome scene when they were slowly dancing together and the record stopped with a potent silence
Deep Throat (1972)	This cheaply-made, raw, hard-core porn flick (a gross sex comedy, actually) by Gerard Damiano became the most profitable film of its kind of all-time, grossing over $600 million, although it was ruled obscene and banned in New York City; it soon became a 'porno-chic' film and cultural phenomenon (the first cross-over porn film); this profoundly-influential and ground-breaking film lured thousands of middle-class audiences into adult theatres for the first time as a date movie; the thin, simplistic plot concerned a young woman (Linda Lovelace) who couldn't experience an orgasm until her doctor (Harry Reems) discovered the strange anatomical reason why ("Your clitoris - it's deep down in the bottom of your throat"); an NC-17-rated documentary about the porn revolution of the 1970s spurred by this landmark film was director Fenton Bailey's Inside Deep Throat (2005) A few other films in the same era attempted to capture the newly-found mainstream hard-core porn business: the Mitchell Brothers' Behind the Green Door (1972) (starring young Marilyn Chambers, the "99.44% pure Ivory Snow girl" on the detergent box) - the first hardcore pornographic movie widely released in the United States (just before Deep Throat), with one very artsy, spectacular rainbow-colored, optically printed and solarized montage of sexual climax; the scene pictured here is the one in which Chambers serviced multiple partners at the same time (with her hands, her mouth, and her vagina) Gerard Damiano's The Devil in Miss Jones (1973), with Georgina Spelvin as a repressed spinster in Hell (after committing suicide) who decided to enjoy more sexual sins on Earth to justify her damnation Radley Metzger's The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1977), a pornographic version of the Pygmalion story, with Constance Money/Susan Jensen as the title character; this film has been widely acknowledged as one of the best porn films ever made Bob Chinn's Candy Stripers (1978), with Amber Hunt Debbie Does Dallas (1978) with Bambi Woods; this best-selling film was notorious for being denounced and sued by the real Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders Chuck Vincent's Roommates (1981), one of the last major attempts to create a pornographic cross-over mainstream film for viewing couples in the neighborhood theatre, starring Samantha Fox, Kelly Nichols, and Veronica Hart	Deep Throat (1972) Behind the Green Door (1972) The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1977) Debbie Does Dallas (1978)